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 Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:59 pm
Little boys and little girls are to stay snug in their blankets during naptime, or so it is said. Either this was not explained clearly enough to the newest tyke at the daycare, or he simply failed to understand the fun in laying still in a dark, boring room. He had no interest in sleep - he could nap when he got home. He wanted to understand this strange, scary not-home place he was left at.
The baby boy, resolute, wrestled himself out of his sleeping bag and rummaged desperately for his pacifer - he was panicked without it, but as soon as he found the worn, gummy thing, he calmed and could think through his next plan of action. A soft ragdoll also lay nearby, and he grabbed that too, for good luck.
He heard the voices of the teachers and assistants over towards the lesson rooms. Though they didn't frighten him so much anymore, he still threw the doll over his shoulder and crawled in the opposite direction, past the other toddlers and towards the back door. Luck was with the boy, since that door was jarred a bit already, and when he nudged it with his shoulder, it opened just enough for a baby to crawl through.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:37 pm
Five minutes passed, ten minutes. A lean figure buzzing with energy approached the door and paused. Then, slowly, it was pushed open and the young man poked his head into the room. Silently, he counted bodies.
Then he cursed fluently in Spanish.
Ignacio Garcia had never before lost a child while volunteering at the Liberty Center Daycare. He was not about to start now. Stepping further into the room, he did another headcount, this time paying attention to angelic sleeping faces. Ahah. It was the new kid, Dallas. That gave him a clue. Grinning with relief, he tiptoed over to the bedroll and searched amongst the blankets. Nothing. He shrugged and brought the blanket up for a quick inhale.
"Gotcha," he murmured. Then he dropped the blanket and slipped from the room again, closing the door behind himself. He stood still in the hallway for a moment, head tilted back a bit. He inhaled again and frowned in concentration.
Tentatively, he made his way towards the playground outside, sniffing the whole time. When he reached the outdoors, he had to pause again and readjust his senses. Before too long, though, he spotted a small form beneath the cage of monkey bars. He laughed, shaking his head. "Kids," he muttered.
It took only a few moments to reach the sanctuary and he nimbly, silently climbed up and over. Positioned properly, he hooked his knees on a bar and let himself fall backwards. He ended up face to face with the missing little boy - upside down, of course. "Hey, there, buddy."
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:35 pm
The baby, of course, had no reason to anticipate Iggy's attack, and his personality was ill-suited to such a surprise as well. A small cry of fright let loose from Dallas, so that the baby boy's pacifer nearly tipped out of his mouth. He scootched back quickly until his back was against one of the bars, and held the ragdoll ahead of him as if it were a shield against the terrifying upside-down creature.
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:32 pm
Iggy's smile immediately left, only to be replaced by a look of horrified concern, and he quickly scrambled down from the bars to land in a semi-coordinated heap in front of the baby. He carefully stayed on the ground, flopped a bit and trying very hard to look unthreatening. "Hey," he tried again. "You shouldn't be out here durin' nap time, y'know?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:44 pm
The baby boy's sky blue eyes stayed great and wide, considering Iggy now with obvious care and caution, as if he might expect the boy to leap at him suddenly again. But Dallas chewed on his pacifer again at least, and did not seem so frightened by the sprawled and harmless caregiver anymore.
But a caregiver was what Iggy was, nonetheless.
So Dallas shook his head and turned away from Iggy, crawling beneath the cages of bars. As the baby made his daring escape, a little plastic ring-pop bounced out of his cow-themed hood, which seemed to sag with other such items.
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Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:40 pm
Ignacio rolled upwards and back to land on his rear end, watching the baby go with a bemused expression. "Y'know," he called after him, "you're droppin' stuff everywhere." With that announcement, he pushed himself onto his knees and stretched to pick up the ring-pop. Then he easily set off on a crawl after Dallas; really, it was unnerving how well Iggy could move on all fours.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 5:04 pm
Iggy's path would not be without its obstacles. As he followed Dallas, a dusty chalk eraser, toy soldiers, a doll's plastic red hairbrush, and a few gumballs were all knocked out of the baby's hood.
Of course, the jungle gym was not an infinite arena, and the baby was not terribly clever, and so he unintentionally crawled right towards the outer edge of the cage, where only grass stretched beyond. Dallas turned to one of the vertical bars, clung to it tightly with both arms, and stared wide-eyed at Iggy.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 5:40 pm
Ignacio stopped a few feet away when he saw Dallas make his death-grip. He frowned. "Hey," he murmured. "Hey, there." He pushed upwards with his front arms and sank back onto his haunches, squatting at a safe distance. "I'm not gonna hurt ya, kiddo. You know that, don't you?" His face took on a look of pure tragedy; it would have been comical except for how real it was. "Honest. I just wanna make sure you're safe. It's naptime, right? No one's out here to watch you if you wanna play." He extended a hand. "C'mon. I'll take you back inside and we can play with everyone else."
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 11:02 am
The baby didn't seem quite as enthusiastic now - the look on Iggy's face seemed to touch Dallas somehow, and caused him to frown a little and stare down at the ground. His mouth opened around his pacifer, yet without knowing any words to say back, he couldn't do anything but close it again.
But he saw that one of the toy soldiers lay just in Dallas's reach, and he leaned over and scooped it up in his little fingers. Keeping one hand firmly at the rail and extending out the other, he offered the little green toy to Iggy, his eyes intently on the much older boy's face.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:07 pm
Iggy regarded the offering solemnly and then, reaching out a hand, gently accepted it. "Thanks, little man," he said. A grin replaced the tragedy and he held the toy up to the sky so it was better silhouetted against the blue sky. "I like these," he announced. "They're cool toys." He looked at Dallas consideringly. "What do you think about blocks?"
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 7:29 pm
Dallas stared at his feet for a moment, then turned his hand out in Iggy's direction once more. He patted a patch of sand in place a few times, perhaps to indicate the mentioned toys. Then, he pushed his palm forward, knocking over rather the invisible set of blocks. "Boo", Dallas said around his pacifier, likely meant to be a 'boom', and looked again at Iggy.
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 2:21 pm
"Yeah," the teen laughed. "Boo is right. I could never get 'em to stay up. Dad said it was because I didn't have patience. Don't have patience." He shrugged, unbothered by this fault of his. Then he held out his arms to indicate an offered pick-you-up and smiled. "I bet naptime's over," he said. "Wanna go back in and play with the blocks?"
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